>  He said that
>for places where an iron would be plugged in, they would normally add
>a special outlet.  I've never heard of that before, cause it's an iron -- not
>a welder or dryer.
>
>Is this all just BS?  If I have 12 outlets, that implies to a homeowner,
>a capacity of 12 x 15A, for a total of 180A.  Perhaps one might say
>that it's 15A per plate (2 outlets) so the capacity is really only 90A.
>Either way, should the iron dim the room light noticeably?
>
>Why does this matter to me?  Cause if I ever have a problem such as
>a fire, etc, my guess (from past issues with these guys) is that they
>will say that my warranty is void due to the X10 switch, and I'd like an
>official answer from them now, with the reasons etc.
>
>Cheers,
>-Neil.
>
>--
>http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
>ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.
>
>
>

>Just had my one-year home review and one of the issues I had raised
>was that the bedroom light dims when an iron is switched on.  I can
>actually tell when the thermostat switches the iron on/off by the change
>of intensity of the light.
>
>The light was installed by the home-builder when the house was built
>and has 2 @ 60W bulbs in it.  That should be less than 1 Amp total
>I believe.  The only other thing in the room is a small digital alarm clock
>(no radio either).  There are 6 other plug outlets in the room (each has
>2 actual plug sockets), for a total capacity of 12 plugs.  Nothing else
>is plugged into any of the room outlets.  Only other factor is that the
>light switch was replaced with an x10 unit, but the dimming problem
>was there before the X10 stuff went in.
>
>An electrician came over today and said that this is normal, because
>the outlet is rated at 15A, and the outlet plus the light is taking more
>than 15A total.  (The iron is rated at approx 10A, btw).  He said that
>for places where an iron would be plugged in, they would normally add
>a special outlet.  I've never heard of that before, cause it's an iron -- not
>a welder or dryer.
>
>Is this all just BS?  If I have 12 outlets, that implies to a homeowner,
>a capacity of 12 x 15A, for a total of 180A.  Perhaps one might say
>that it's 15A per plate (2 outlets) so the capacity is really only 90A.
>Either way, should the iron dim the room light noticeably?
>
>Why does this matter to me?  Cause if I ever have a problem such as
>a fire, etc, my guess (from past issues with these guys) is that they
>will say that my warranty is void due to the X10 switch, and I'd like an
>official answer from them now, with the reasons etc.
>
>Cheers,
>-Neil.
>
>--
>http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
>ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.
>
>
>
>

>Just had my one-year home review and one of the issues I had raised
>was that the bedroom light dims when an iron is switched on.  I can
>actually tell when the thermostat switches the iron on/off by the change
>of intensity of the light.
>
>The light was installed by the home-builder when the house was built
>and has 2 @ 60W bulbs in it.  That should be less than 1 Amp total
>I believe.  The only other thing in the room is a small digital alarm clock
>(no radio either).  There are 6 other plug outlets in the room (each has
>2 actual plug sockets), for a total capacity of 12 plugs.  Nothing else
>is plugged into any of the room outlets.  Only other factor is that the
>light switch was replaced with an x10 unit, but the dimming problem
>was there before the X10 stuff went in.
>
>An electrician came over today and said that this is normal, because
>the outlet is rated at 15A, and the outlet plus the light is taking more
>than 15A total.  (The iron is rated at approx 10A, btw).  He said that
>for places where an iron would be plugged in, they would normally add
>a special outlet.  I've never heard of that before, cause it's an iron -- not
>a welder or dryer.
>
>Is this all just BS?  If I have 12 outlets, that implies to a homeowner,
>a capacity of 12 x 15A, for a total of 180A.  Perhaps one might say
>that it's 15A per plate (2 outlets) so the capacity is really only 90A.
>Either way, should the iron dim the room light noticeably?
>
>Why does this matter to me?  Cause if I ever have a problem such as
>a fire, etc, my guess (from past issues with these guys) is that they
>will say that my warranty is void due to the X10 switch, and I'd like an
>official answer from them now, with the reasons etc.
>
>Cheers,
>-Neil.
>
>--
>http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
>ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.
>
>
>
>
>

> Here in the USA it is common to have a roomful of outlets,each rated
> 15A, all on a single 15A or 20A breaker.  You are not supposed to be
> able to use all outlets to their full capacity simultaneously.
>
> But still I would like to know how much the line drops when the iron
> turns on, and where that drop is.  If you can identify the breaker that
> serves this line, I would measure the voltage as it enters the breaker.
> The voltage there should not change much.  Then I would measure the
> voltage as it leaves the breaker.  There should be some drop that you
> will have to live with.  Then I would measure the voltage at a couple of
> other outlets in that room.  The best of these, minus the drop at the
> breaker, is the drop in the wiring from the breaker box to the room.  If
> you estimate the length of wire used (both directions) and the wire size
> you can calculate what the drop should be.  If it is much higher you may
> have a fire risk.  You can also estimate what the drop should be between
> outlets.  You may have to move the iron around to get the current
> flowing in the right wires.  Sounds like a good project for a rainy
> afternoon.
>
> Sherpa Doug
>

> I had a similar problem when I moved into a 1974-vintage home.
> A 6-amp space heater would cause dimming of lights farther up
> the chain.  Upon inspection, I found that perhaps five AC
> outlets were wired in a "daisy-chain" fashion for the circuit
> in question.
>
> These particular outlets were all the quick-wire kind where the
> wire just pushes into the rear of the receptacle and is captured
> by a brass barb.  So I went to the hardware store and purchased
> five Leviton Spec-Master outlets which actually capture the wire
> in an anvil (is that the right term?) screw-down grip.  Installed
> them over the weekend, problem totally disappeared.
>
> The Spec-Master receptacles are a bit pricey, but I felt the
> added safety factor justified the cost.
>
> Brian Aase
>

> Thomas C. Sefranek wrote:
>
> > You have a 1.2 KILLOWATT IRON????
>
> Fastest press-n-peel pc boards this side of the mississippi.  :-)
>
> -Adam
>
> --
> http://www.piclist.com hint: The PICList is archived three different
> ways.  See http://www.piclist.com/#archives for details.
>
>
>

> > ....
> > to 15 screw connections, and it would only take one slightly loose
> > connection to become corroded and present another several ohms of
> > resistance in the circuit - a definite fire hazard.
>
> There lies my first thought -- a bad connection somewhere.  The
> housing inspectors should easily identify and flag incorrect wire gauge,
> but it would be difficult to notice bad connections.  And since this
> homebuilder is 1 or only 2 for this very large community, my guess is
> that the inspector knows the formen, team, etc very well and most
> inspections get completed with a certain level of complacency or
> nonchalance.
>
> Note: Not accusing anyone of wrong-doing here, just pointing out
> that it's very possible for something to slip thru the cracks once in a
> while.
>
> So perhaps the "easy"  test is to plug in a dozen 15Amp devices
> around the room, and switch them on to full load slowly.  At the
> same time, I'll run around the house with a couple fire extinguishers
> as see where the fire starts.  :-)  :-)  :-)